The present disclosure relates generally to redundancy for point-to-multipoint and multipoint-to-multipoint Ethernet Virtual Connections (EVCs).
Many service providers are seeking to incorporate transport technologies which enable them to reduce capital expenses and operation expenses in their next generation networks. Ethernet transport can reduce expenses since it is already used in many networking products. Draft standard IEEE 802.1ah, entitled Provider Backbone Bridges, has been developed to address some of the internetworking issues with conventional Ethernet networking.
One important Ethernet attribute is the Ethernet Virtual Connection. An EVC is an association of two or more User-Network Interfaces (UNIs), where the UNI is a standard Ethernet interface that is the point of demarcation between customer equipment and a service provider's network. The EVC can connect two or more subscriber sites enabling the transfer of Ethernet service frames therebetween and preventing data transfer between subscriber sites that are not part of the same EVC.
Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) is an emerging transport technology that uses IEEE 802.1ah data-plane functionality and static provisioning of Ethernet paths by means of a network management system. The currently defined Provider Backbone Transport can only support point-to-point EVCs.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.